Visiting Mývatn

On our way to Lake Mývatn we went sight seeing.First we stopped at a waterfall called Goðafoss and that means waterfall of the gods.It was very moist on the cliff right by the waterfall,and in the picture I’m standing on the misty cliff in front of the  waterfall. But you do not want to fall in the water because in five minutes you will get hypothermia and ........................... Anyway the waterfall was forty feet high and one hundred feet wide.

(Now were talking about a volcano that we hiked up and that also blew off its top in
700 BC and is no longer active) After the waterfall we did a couple more things
( two) and then went to hike a volcano that exploded and blew its top around 700 BC. It was not really a hike it was more of a diagonal steep trail that was 450meters to the top of the cone. When we got up to the top it was very windy but it was so cool it was all black and dark gray volcanic rocks.The edge around the volcano was wide enough for five or six people to walk around the whole volcano and if you walked all the way around you would have walked a kilometer.We did not walk all the way around,but as we were walking we looked down in the cone and spotted a person in the cone he or she looked like a tiny spec.It looked like the person was walking to the island in the middle.We could not find a trail down so we decided not to go down. After taking pictures and picking up a few rocks, we went back down.


At the end of our trip to Mývatn we went to a hot springs that had murky light blue water so you could not see the bottom. I could not believe that that was the real color of the hot springs (the hot spring water also smells like smoke bombs). In iceland before you swim in pools or protected hot springs, first you take shoes off and put them on a rack and then you go in to either the mens or woman’s bath room and you pick a locker put your stuff in and keep your bathing suit out. You take off your clothes and do not get in your bathing suit yet. Then you go and shower with soap and then you put your swim suit on. Now you are ready to jump in the hot springs.

Sunny Soccer

It was a sunny day and everyone was excited for the soccer game -- South Africa vs. Mozambique. We had to go to our aunt and uncle’s house because we needed to borrow flags, hats and shirts for the game. We got stuck in a long line of traffic, and when we finally parked, we had to walk down a long hill to get to the stadium, but we made it. On the outside the stadium looks like a giant white basket. We found our seats and sat down. For the first half of the game the sun was shining right in our eyes,we were all using our shoes as shades so we could see what was happening on the field. It took a long time but when South Africa finally scored we all went wild! The whole stadium started doing the wave, and people were singing, dancing and blowing vuvuzelas. I took tons of pictures with my (pale-yellow) Fuji Instant camera.

We got sodas, popcorn and popsicles as we walked around the stadium at half time. They scored twice more during the second half, and thankfully we were in the shade by then. It’s way more exciting to be at the stadium to see a game, than to watch one on television. The best part was acting like a monkey and screaming our heads off!

Klipspringer

We took a trip to Mapungubwe.
As we were driving up a rocky hill we saw two Klipspringers (which means Rock Jumper in Afrikaans) standing on a huge boulder.
There was one male and one female.
Their hooves have a rubbery center to help them grip the rock and climb more easily.
The males stand on the rock and guard especially if they have young or a mate.
Sometimes they will stand there from a half hour to many hours.
And unlike other animals they have their young any time of the year.
They are also full grown at one year and live till about age eight.

Visiting the Old Baobab Tree

 Me climbing the baobab tree

Inside the baobab tree with Aidan. The inside was used as a bar at one time.

On the way back from Mozambique we stopped at a giant baobab that is over 2,000 years old. Baobabs are thought to be the oldest living flowering plants (angiosperms) on earth.The baobab is a very big tree that is also called a cream of tarter tree, monkey bread tree, a lemonade tree, and the upside down tree. Many people have different beliefs about this tree. Some people believe that a lion will devour anyone bold enough to pick a flower of a baobab and eat it, because spirits live in the blossoms. Some people say that if you drink water that has had baobab seeds soaked in it then you will not get attacked by a crocodile. People also use the bark to make rope, nets, and floor mats. The baobab also uses its bark to store water for droughts. The fruit has a white powder covering the seeds that makes a nice tart drink after being ground up and mixed with water. The seeds are also used to make a coffee-like drink. In Japan they released a baobab flavored Pepsi. Baobabs were also carved out to be homes, pubs, prisons, storage sheds, and bus stops. When a baobab dies it falls into a big pile of pulp.

One Off my Bucket List-Swimming with Dolphins in Mozambique.

photos © Mark van Coller

These photographs are of us in Mozambique swimming with dolphins. My Uncle Marky is an underwater filmmaker and took these photographs. I felt excited to get in the water, but when I got in and swam around for a little bit the dolphins never came, so I wanted to go back. It was not a good first experience because i got really cold. I did not go in the rest of that boat trip. The next day was a very bumpy long ride and we did not see any dolphins until we were many miles up the coast. Then my dad spotted some dolphins. They were very playful dolphins so our guide told us to get in the water. They would come so close you would be able to touch them. But you can't touch them because they are wild. They will swim under you and all around you if they are not on a mission to hunt or rest. Some times they just avoid you, but yesterday we got lucky. Swimming with the dolphins was really stunning and amazing, and it was very difficult not to be tempted to reach out and touch them.

Photography Lesson #3

Today's photography lesson was about light and color. In the bottom two I like how the light shows texture. In the top one I like how the flowers catch light from behind. In the middle one the blurriness is nice and it also looks as if the leaves are sparkling.

Photo Assignment #2

Photo Assignment: Line
Today we did our second photo assignment. We were looking for line. I picked this photo because there are very strong lines. I was in my grandma’s veggie garden when I took the photo. The skink was starting to run away so I had to be quick.